

[ft MEADE I 

GenColl I 


POLLY 

AND THE 

OTHER GIRL 

SOPHIE SWETT 




I 


* 




9 

COPYRIGHT DEPOSIT. 


9 



















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i 



POLLY AND THE OTHER GIRL 






“ ‘ You are harboring a little rascal I ' ” 


Polly 

And The Other Girl 

BY 

SOPHIE SWETT 


With Illustrations by 
CARL STREHLAU 




PHILADELPHIA 

Henry Altemus Company 


LIBRARY of CONGRESS 

Two Copits Received 


SEP 24 1906 


q Jjewmt Entry 


CLASS 


/p. 'fo <c 

XXe., N>. 


1 ■*£&/■ 



By The Same Author 


MARY AUGUSTA’S PRICE 
SONNY BOY 

FIFTY CENTS EACH 


Copyright, 1906, by Henry Altemus 




CONTENTS 


CHAPTER I 

Page 

The Pink Ticket 13 

CHAPTER II 

The Country Week Begins 21 

CHAPTER III 

More Midnight Alarms 31 

CHAPTER IV 

Dr. Dobbins’ Clock Shop 39 

CHAPTER V 

Polly Protects “ The Thief ” 49 

CHAPTER VI 

Beppo 59 

CHAPTER VII 

Sarah Meets an Old Friend 7 1 


CONTENTS 


CHAPTER VIII 

Page 

The Circus Pony 79 

CHAPTER IX 

Bob ”89 

CHAPTER X 

Joey and Bob Disappear- 97 

CHAPTER XI 

Sarah Is Lost 105 

CHAPTER XII 

The “Grate Sekrit ” 113 


[viii] 


ILLUSTRATIONS 


s\ Page 

“ ‘ You are harboring a little rascal ’ ” . Frontispiece 

“ ‘ Halloo ! ’ said Polly cordially ” . 15 

“ ‘ Does your conscience ever trouble you ? ’ ” . . . 23 

“ * What has got into the old clock 27 

“ ‘ I must keep my eye on that young one ’ ” . . . 33 

“ ‘ Oh, oh, it ’s a mouse ! * ” 41 

“ He kept clocks, large and small ” 43 

“ * Yes, I know,’ said the little clock man” .... 53 

“ The monkey was perched on the organ ” ... . 61 

“‘Just wait till I catch him,’ cried Sarah” .... 63 

“ Suddenly he pulled Sarah’s skirt ” 75 

“ Hollis did ’nt know how they could get him home ” . 81 

“ ‘ Maybe I can tell you some time ’ ”* 85 

“ A boy suddenly jumped over the fence ” . 91 

“ Tom Greeley watched from a tall apple-tree ”... 101 

“ Sarah was lost ” 109 

“ ‘ Oh, oh, I’ve got own folks! ’ she cried” . . . .117 

“ Teddy dashed into the yard on Bob’s back ” . . .119 

[ix] 











THE PINK TICKET 



Polly and the Other Girl 


CHAPTER I 

THE PINK TICKET 

P OLLY was sitting by the garden path 
trying to make a hollyhock lady, when 
there was a click of the gate, and look- 
ing up, she saw just what she had been 
wishing for — another girl. 

Polly had complained to grandma, that very 
morning, that the world was full of boys ; little 
Josephus was very much of a boy and Teddy 
was even more so — they were Polly’s broth- 
ers; the nearest neighbors were the Dennetts 
on one side, and the Dennett twins were boys, 
and the Pulsifers on the other side, and the 
Pulsifer children were all boys. What you 
want when you are eleven is another girl who 
is eleven, especially if you live with grandma* 
who has forgotten a good many things about 
being a girl. 


[ 13 ] 


POLLY AND THE OTHER GIRL 


“Halloo !” said Polly cordially, as she looked 
up, and “halloo” said the other girl. 

She was a tall girl, with a very peaked chin 
and freckles so large and yellow that Polly 
instantly thought buttermilk would not take 
them off as it did their hired girl Drusy’s. 

“I ’m a country-week girl,” said the stranger, 
changing her bundle from one arm to the 
other. 

“Oh ! are you ?” said Polly politely, although 
she did n’t know what she meant, never hav- 
ing heard of the city charity which sends poor 
boys and girls to kindly people in the country 
for a week’s vacation. 

“There was a mistake,” continued the other 
girl; “two of us came. It was to old Mis’ 
Proudie’s over on the back road. She took 
her pick and sent me back; she said I looked 
saucy. I ’m always the one to get left out of 
good times, and blamed for everything.” 

“Why, so am I,” said Polly, with a thrill of 
sympathy. 


[ 14 ] 


POLLY AND THE OTHER GIRL 


“You never had another girl steal your 
country-week, now did you?” said the 
stranger, resenting it that Polly should think 



she had troubles like hers. “I know that girl 
got mixed up on purpose.” 

“No — o, I never did,” owned Polly. “But 
[ 15 ] 


POLLY AND THE OTHER GIRL 


I don’t think much of country-weeks, any- 
way,” she added ; then suddenly her eyes filled 
with tears. “If I only had another girl per- 
haps I should,” she said. 

The girl came forward eagerly. 

“I should like to stay with you awful well,” 
she said. “I can’t go back anyhow, I ’ve lost 
my ticket.” 

One of the girl’s hands was thrust behind 
her, and from it Polly saw a little slip of pink 
paper flutter down into the tall grass. 
Grandma, who just then appeared in the door- 
way, did n’t see it. 

“What little girl is this?” she asked. 

“I’m Sarah Plunkett, a country-week girl, 
ma’am,” answered the stranger very properly. 
“Only I ’ve lost my week, and my ticket to go 
back, too,” She drew her checked gingham 
sleeve across her eyes as she walked up to the 
doorway where Grandma stood. 

Polly leaned forward suddenly, reached 
along the tall grass and seized the little pink 
116 ] 


POLLY AND THE OTHER GIRL 


slip, crumpling it into a little wad in her hand. 

“Well, come in, and we ’ll talk about your 
staying here,” Grandma was saying kindly to 
Sarah Plunkett when Polly reached the steps; 
and the three went into the wide, cool hall 
where all summer Grandma kept her tall work- 
basket and her wicker rocking-chair. 

“How did you lose your ticket?” asked 
Grandma. 

Grandpa had been trying to mend the great, 
tall hall clock, and the clock door was open. 
Polly, who was standing in front of the clock 
holding her hands behind her, tossed the little 
pink wad into the clock; then she pushed 
against it, as if by accident and shut the door. 

“I had it in my hand and then it was gone,” 
said Sarah Plunkett. 

“Both of you go along the road for a little 
way and perhaps you may find it,” said 
Grandma. They took each other’s hands and 
v/ent out, Polly with a dreadful sense of guilt. 

“I don’t believe we shall find it if we go away 
back to old Mis’ Proudie’s,” Sarah said. 

I- Polly and the Other Girl [ 1 7 1 


POLLY AND THE OTHER GIRL 


Polly did n’t either ; and in spite of the guilty 
feeling her spirits began to rise. She had an- 
other girl for at least a week ; perhaps 
Grandma would let her stay longer, and what 
good times they would have ! 


[ 18 ] 


THE COUNTRY WEEK BEGINS 






POLLY AND THE OTHER GIRL 


CHAPTER II 

THE COUNTRY WEEK BEGINS 

W HEN Polly and Sarah Plunkett 
returned without having found the 
ticket, Grandma asked Sarah 
Plunkett several questions. 

The girl said her father and mother were 
both dead, and she drew a dingy little hand- 
kerchief from her pocket and showed its tiny 
black border, as if that were proof that she was 
an orphan. Her mother had worked in a bake- 
shop, and now the woman who kept it let 
Sarah sleep in her attic, and gave her food for 
doing errands and chores. 

Grandpa shook his head a little at Grand- 
ma’s plan of allowing her to stay a week. He 
was afraid she would teach Polly slang and 
rough ways. 


[ 21 ] 


POLLY AND THE OTHER GIRL 


But Grandma thought it would make Polly 
more kindly and helpful to know how many 
hard things some children had to bear; as for 
rough ways, she did n’t think Polly would learn 
those very readily ; and certainly Sarah Plunk- 
ett seemed to speak and behave very properly. 

So when Grandma had been herself to see 
old Mrs. Proudie, and had learned that Sarah 
Plunkett’s story of the two girls who, by mis- 
take, had been sent to her for a country-week 
was quite true, Sarah was given the clean, 
clover-sweet little bed-room beside Polly’s, 
and the country week began. 

Polly had another girl — but there was that 
little pink wad in the old clock-case ! 

She could n’t get that pink wad out, for the 
clock door squeaked ; and Grandpa never 
allowed anyone to touch the clock. 

She expected every moment that Grandpa 
would find that ticket! 

“Does your conscience ever trouble you, 
Sarah Plunkett?” asked Polly, over in the 
raspberry pasture that afternoon. 

[ 22 ] 



« ‘ Does your conscience ever trouble you ? ’ ” 






POLLY AND THE OTHER GIRL 


“No; you may as well have a good time,” 
said Sarah Plunkett. She was perched on the 
top rail of the fence, eating raspberries she 
had picked. But she looked curiously at 
Polly, and presently she slipped down from the 
fence with a little sigh. 

“Are you the kind that gets found out?” 
she asked. 

“I think I am,” said Polly dejectedly; “and 
it hurts to be bad even when I don’t get found 
out.” 

“You ain’t going to tell, are you?” asked 
Sarah anxiously. “I saw you pick up that 
ticket. I knew it was because you wanted me 
to stay, that you did n’t tell. ’T was real good 
of you.” 

“I ’m not going to tell,” said Polly. “But 
I ’m sorry you told a lie, and sorry I helped. 
Grandma would have let you stay anyway.” 

“I guess,” said Sarah, “if you did n’t live 
anywhere, and folks did n’t want you, whop- 
pers would come easy to you.” 

[ 25 ] 


POLLY AND THE OTHER GIRL 


Polly took Sarah’s hand in silent sympathy, 
and they swung Sarah’s empty tin pail between 
them as they walked homeward. 

Polly resolved not to say anything to Sarah 
about that little pink wad in the clock-case. 
But she lay awake that night, and when all the 
house was still she stole down stairs — softly, 
softly ! 

She had not dared to take her candle, and 
the moonlight crept in but faintly through the 
parted muslin curtains, and the great hall was 
full of shadows that made one’s heart thump. 

She opened the squeaking door of the old 
clock carefully, carefully, but it would squeak. 
She waited and listened, breathless, expecting 
to hear Grandpa’s voice or step, for his ears 
were quick if they were old. But there was no 
sound. 

Polly put her hand into the clock-case, but 
instead of finding the ticket, she touched 
something that set the clock to striking; 
twelve sharp clanging strokes rang through 
the house ! 


^ [ 26 ] 


POLLY AND THE OTHER GIRL 


Polly ran and hid herself under the stair- 
case. Grandma’s old rainy-day cloak was 
hanging there and she wrapped herself in its 



“ ‘ What has got into the old clock ? ’ ” 


folds. In a very few minutes she heard an 
opening and shutting of doors. 

First came Grandpa, stumping down stairs 
with his candle. 


[ 27 ] 


POLLY AND THE OTHER GIRL 


“What in nater has got into the pesky old 
clock ?” muttered he. 

Next came Hollis, the “hired man,” who 
slept away off in the barn chamber. “It will 
be five years next January since that clock has 
struck before !” exclaimed Hollis, in great 
excitement. 

“It ain’t a good sign,” said Drusy, the “hired 
girl,” who had come from her chamber away 
out in the ell. 

“Nonsense!” said Grandpa. 

Polly, quaking, peeped out and saw him open 
the clock door. 

“Go and see if it waked Polly, and tell her 
not to be scared,” added Grandpa — for 
Grandpa was very tender of Polly. 


[ 28 ] 


MORE MIDNIGHT ALARMS 

































POLLY AND THE OTHER GIRL 


CHAPTER III 

MORE MIDNIGHT ALARMS 

S OMETHING must have jarred the 
clock and made it strike,” said 
Grandpa; and he stumped upstairs 
again. 

“I listened at Polly's door and there was n’t 
a sound ; it did n’t wake her,” said Drusy ; and 
Polly drew a long, long breath of relief. 

When the house was still again, Polly stole 
upstairs, scarcely daring to breathe ; she crept 
into bed shivering and trembling, and fell 
asleep and dreamed that the old clock had 
walked upstairs on its claw feet and was waltz- 
ing around her room with Drusy ; and Drusy’s 
curl papers were every one pink tickets which 
changed gradually into fire-crackers that went 
off as she danced. 


[ 31 ] 


POLLY AND THE OTHER GIRL 


It was pleasant to wake, in the quiet sun- 
shiny morning, and know that the old clock 
was in its accustomed place in the hall. But 
a pang came with the thought that Grandpa 
would soon try to find out why the clock 
struck and would find the pink ticket! 

But directly after breakfast Grandpa went 
to the barn to give some directions to Hollis, 
and as he was going up to the hay loft the lad- 
der slipped and he fell and broke his leg ! 

Poor Grandpa! Neither he nor anyone else 
thought about the clock that day — no one but 
Polly, and she felt wicked, for she had hoped 
something would prevent Grandpa from find- 
ing the ticket. 

She wished she dared to try again to get the 
ticket, now that Grandpa lay in bed, but what 
if she should make the clock strike again? 

Drusy thought she would look in and see if 
she could n’t find out what made the old clock 
strike. It was when she was sweeping the 
hall, the day after Grandpa’s accident. 

[ 32 ] 


POLLY AND THE OTHER GIRL 


The little roll of pink paper was down in a 
corner, but Drusy’s eyes were sharp. She 
unfolded the pink paper and read aloud : “Pass 



“ * I must keep my eye on that young one ’ ” 


Sarah Plunkett to Barberry Bend and return.” 
The name of the superintendent of the chil- 
dren's country-week followed, and then the 
names of railroad officials. 

3— Polly and the Other Girl [33] 


POLLY AND THE OTHER GIRL 


“I must keep my eye on that young one,” 
said Drusy to herself. “Somehow I like the 
looks of her, but you can’t tell.” 

Polly was at the head of the stairs, and she 
heard every word. 

Drusy tucked the little pink wad back into 
the clock-case. 

“I ain’t goin’ to let her know I’ve found her 
out, but I ’m going to watch her,” she said. 

“She thinks Sarah was bad alone and she 
was n’t,” said Polly to herself, feeling that the 
tail of this lie was growing longer and longer. 

Sarah made herself very useful about the 
house. She was never tired of running up and 
downstairs to wait upon Grandpa, or down 
into the field to carry luncheon to the hay- 
makers. When the week came to an end, 
Grandma, without saying anything even to 
Polly, wrote to the “superintendent of the 
country-week,” asking that Sarah Plunkett 
might make a longer visit; and this was in 
spite of the fact that Sarah had borrowed 

[ 34 ] 


POLLY AND THE OTHER GIRL 


Hollis’s jew’s-harp and taught Polly to play on 
a comb with resulting duets that were trying 
to grown people’s nerves. 

As for Polly, she was happier than she had 
ever been in her life, except for poor Grand- 
pa’s misfortune and for the feeling, of which 
she could not rid herself, that the tail of that 
lie was growing; it had begun to seem to her 
like a real live snake coiled up in the old 
clock. She started up with a cry when, one 
night about two weeks after Grandpa broke 
his leg, that clock struck again. It was one 
stroke, just one, and for a moment Polly 
thought she must be dreaming; she drew the 
bedclothes over her head and lay quite still, 
her heart beating like a trip-hammer. But no ! 
there it was again — two strokes, then three! 

Sarah softly opened the door between her 
room and Polly’s. 

“I ’m going down to see what makes that 
clock strike,” she said. 

“Sarah Plunkett! alone — in the dark?” 

[ 35 ] 


POLLY AND THE OTHER GIRL 


gasped Polly, with a great shiver. “Are n’t 
you afraid?” 

“I ain’t afraid of ^nything,” said Sarah 
Plunkett, “or, if I am, I just say ‘shame on 
you, ’fraid cat !’ and go right ahead.” 


[ 36 ] 


DR. DOBBINS’S CLOCK-SHOP 






















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POLLY AND THE OTHER GIRL 


CHAPTER IV 

DR. DOBBINS’S CLOCK-SHOP 

I MADE it strike before, but it was n’t I 
this time. What could it have been ?” 
said Polly, in an awe-stricken whisper. 
“Come with me and we ’ll try to find 
out!” said Sarah Plunkett courageously, as 
she held her candle above her head and peered 
into the darkness of the hall. 

“Perhaps it ’s — burglars,” whispered Polly. 
“Burglars don’t strike clocks,” said Sarah. 
Polly slipped her dress on and followed 
Sarah down stairs. She was ashamed to be 
afraid, Sarah was so brave. 

“When you feel crinkly down your back- 
bone just say, ‘forward march!’ that ’s the 
way I do,” advised Sarah, in a whisper. 

But she jumped, herself, when a stair 
creaked under her feet. 

[ 39 ] 


POLLY AND THE OTHER GIRL 


Polly stood on the third stair from the bot- 
tom when Sarah opened the clock-door; she 
was saying, “forward, march !” and “now I lay 
me,” both at once and clinging to the stair 
railing. 

The clock-door made that piercing squeak, 
then came a scamper, a whirr inside, and then 
the clock struck again ! 

“O, O, it ’s a mouse!” cried Sarah with a 
little shriek, and clinging to Polly just as if 
she were not brave at all. “And I think he ’s 
making a nest, for there’s pink paper there, 
all torn into bits!” 

Polly drew a long breath of relief ; that was 
the end of the pink ticket ! 

She walked upstairs quite slowly, while 
Sarah scampered. 

“I ’m not afraid of mice; I like ’em,” said 
Polly stoutly. 

“I like ’em — pretty well — when I have my 
shoes and stockings on,” panted Sarah. 

They told their adventure at the breakfast 

[ 40 ] 


POLLY AND THE OTHER GIRL 


table next morning. Polly was light-hearted; 
any one might open that clock-case now! — 
though she colored when Drusy., as she 



brought in the muffins, looked sharply at Sarah 
and her. 

Grandma said they must set the mouse trap 
in the hall, and she thought Grandpa would 

[ 41 ] 


POLLY AND THE OTHER GIRL 


want Polly and Sarah to go across the ferry 
and get Dr. Dobbins to come and repair the 
clock. 

Grandpa did want them to go and they set 
out directly after breakfast, for it was half a 
mile to the river and then they had to be rowed 
across the river by the ferryman. 

It was delightful to go to Dr. Dobbins’s; 
Drusy went very often to have the big silver 
watch repaired that her uncle had given her, 
and she always took Polly with her. Then 
they had to go after the watch when it was 
done, and Polly was glad that it was a watch 
that needed a great many repairs. 

Dr. Dobbins was a little fat man with such a 
rosy, smiling face that he looked like a very 
amiable baby, and he spoke with a little lisp 
which always sounded to Polly as if he had 
candy in his mouth. He always had some in 
the queer little cupboard over his mantel, any- 
way, and he never forgot to offer some to 
Polly. 


[ 42 ] 



“ He kept clocks, large and small ” 















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J 






I 






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POLLY AND THE OTHER GIRL 


He lived in a little pea-green house with a 
great gnarled pear-tree in front and a garden 
that sloped down to the river behind ; the gar- 
den was filled with wholesome and savory 
herbs which he sold and with which he cured 
many disorders. 

His clock-shop was the front room of the 
little pea-green house and he kept clocks, large 
and small, from grandfather’s clocks to the 
tiny baby things no larger than old-fashioned 
watches ; for Ferry Village was a larger place 
than Barberry Bend and Dr. Dobbins did a 
thriving business in clocks. His doctoring 
was not so profitable, for he treated all poor 
people for nothing. 

“Oh! how sweet it smells,” cried Sarah, as 
the ferryman landed them at the slip at the 
foot of Dr. Dobbins’s garden. 

Sarah was even more delighted with the 
clock-shop; she had never seen such pretty 
clocks in the city, she said, and in fact Dr. 
Dobbins prided himself on odd and dainty 
[ 45 ] 


POLLY AND THE OTHER GIRL 


styles. The cuckoo clock, the clock that was 
also a barometer and pushed a little gentle- 
man with an umbrella out of a tiny house when 
it was going to rain and a gay little lady with a 
parasol when it was going to be fair, pleased 
Polly most of all, but there was a tiny clock, 
surrounded by gilt rays, a “rising-sun” clock, 
Dr. Dobbins called it, which Sarah thought 
the most fascinating of all. 

In the ferryboat, rowing homeward, Polly, 
who sat beside Sarah in the stern, heard a 
faint muffled silvery stroke — a stroke like that 
of the “rising-sun” clock! 

Was she dreaming? thought Polly, or had 
so many striking clocks turned her brain. The 
ferryman, rested his oars and listened open- 
mouthed. Sarah Plunkett’s face grew scarlet 
to the roots of her yellow hair, and she put her 
hand swiftly and slyly into her pocket. In 
doing so she pushed her pocket towards Polly, 
and Polly felt sharp little spikes. Sarah Plun- 
kett had the “rising-sun” clock in her pocket. 

[ 46 ] 


POLLY PROTECTS THE 


THIEF” 





POLLY AND THE OTHER GIRL 


CHAPTER V 

POLLY PROTECTS THE “THIEF” 

I ’VE had the best time I ever had in my 
life. I wish I could stay here forever,” 
said Sarah Plunkett as they walked 
homeward from the ferry. “And I ’ve 
got to go back where there’s miles of streets 
and no own folks !” 

That clock was swinging in her pocket as 
she walked and she did n’t seem to think any- 
thing about it ! A bird that flew along before 
them from tree to tree seemed to Polly to be 
crying “Thief! thief!” and Polly grew scarlet 
to the tips of her ears. But Sarah did n’t seem 
to hear him, or perhaps she thought he was 
only twittering “cheep, cheep !” 

Polly looked anxiously behind ; she expected 
to see Dr. Dobbins following them, or an offi- 
cer whom he had sent to arrest Sarah. 

4— Polly and the Other Girl [ 49 ] 


POLLY AND THE OTHER GIRL 


But Sarah hop-skipped gaily along and when 
they reached home she ran to see old Dinah’s 
three brand-new jet-black kittens and to hug 
Buttercup, the new calf. 

Polly sat up in bed that night, wide-awake 
and staring into the darkness, trying to think 
what she should do. 

Grandma had said, “We must be very 
patient with Sarah Plunkett, she has n’t been 
taught to be good as you have.” But that was 
about borrowing Hollis’s jew’s-harp. Polly 
knew that Grandma would think stealing a 
very different thing. 

She knew she ought to tell Grandma. But 
that would mean having Sarah sent away — 
sent back to the dreary little attic over the 
bake-shop, with sometimes a stale bun for sup- 
per and sometimes no supper at all, and — 
what Sarah seemed to feel was much worse — 
no “own folks.” And Polly felt that to lose 
Sarah would be more than she could bear. 
A girl was such a comfort — especially a girl 
[ 50 ] 


POLLY AND THE OTHER GIRL 


who always wanted to do things and dared to 
shake a red parasol at the cross gobbler and 
was not afraid to cross Bugbee’s pasture where 
the old ram was, nor of getting lost in Cork- 
screw-creek woods. 

Even Teddy said she was “game, for a girl,” 
and little Josephus would take his catnip tea 
from nobody but her. 

Polly said a little prayer in which she 
explained that she did n’t know whether what 
she was going to do was right or wrong, and 
then she felt better and went to sleep. 

She watched for Dr. Dobbins the next day 
and let him in herself. Sarah was winding 
worsted for Grandma up in Grandpa’s room. 
“If — if you won’t have Sarah arrested, I ’ll pay 
for the clock,” she stammered, while the rosy 
little man was taking off the great clock which 
he always wore strapped upon his breast for a 
sign. 

“Ah — h! so it was Sarah who played the 
mischief with the clock, was it?” said Dr. Dob- 
bins. “Well, we ’ll see, we ’ll see!” 

[ 51 ] 


POLLY AND THE OTHER GIRL 


“There is my donkey money,” explained 
Polly eagerly. “I was going to buy a donkey 
and Grandpa would buy me the cart. There ’s 
three dollars and seventeen cents ; there ought 
to be more, but money goes so, you know, 
when you don’t think.” 

“Yes, I know,” said the little clock man 
seriously. 

“Teddy owes me fifty-six cents, but he ’s 
very short; boys have to have so many fish 
hooks. And my pullets won’t lay; I counted 
on the egg-money — and now they ’re all four 
roosters !” 

“It often happens so in this world,” said Dr. 
Dobbins, 

Just then, before she had time to find out 
how much the clock was worth, Grandma 
came down, and Polly could n’t find another 
chance to speak to him. 

When Grandma paid him for repairing the 
clock, just as he was going, he looked sharply 
at Polly. But he nodded pleasantly, and Polly 
[ 52 ] 


POLLY AND THE OTHER GIRL 


felt he would say nothing if she could get the 
money soon. 

He watched Sarah very closely whenever 



“ ‘ Yes, I know,’ said the little clock man ” 

she came near. Drusy noticed it; she said he 
scarcely took his eyes off her; and that made 
Polly tremble. But he spoke very kindly to 

[ 53 ] 


POLLY AND THE OTHER GIRL 


Sarah and asked her questions about her home 
in the city. 

Polly said she did n’t want to go to the Vil- 
lage Improvement Society’s picnic the next 
day; Grandma had said that as she was a 
member of the society and ought to help it 
she would better buy her ticket herself, and 
Polly felt that she could not afford to spend a 
quarter until that clock was paid for. 

Sarah had earned her money by weeding the 
onion bed and she went to the picnic in a pink 
dress that Grandma had given her. 

Polly had resolved to work Sarah a motto, as 
a moral influence; she thought first of “Thou 
Shalt Not Steal,” but that seemed very 
unpleasantly personal under the circum- 
stances. Even “Thou God Seest Me” seemed 
a little too pointed. So she chose “The Lord 
is My Shepherd.” It did n’t seem quite sure 
Sarah would understand by it that she must 
not steal, but Polly thought she ought to. 

Sewing was not Polly’s strong point and the 

[ 54 ] 


POLLY AND THE OTHER GIRL 


letters were somewhat crooked and knotty, 
and a few tears would fall on it, for Polly 
dearly loved a picnic; but if Sarah would only 
understand that she must not steal ! 


[ 55 ] 






BEPPO 



















( 


POLLY AND THE OTHER GIRL 


CHAPTER VI 

BEPPO 

P OLLY had money-troubles just as 
soon as she began to try to save up to 
pay for that clock ! 

It seemed queer that it should hap- 
pen so. Teddy had broken his own bicycle 
“coasting” down Tumble-down Hill ; then 
what should he do but coast down on Iky 
Dennett’s bicycle and break that! 

Grandpa said he must pay for the repairs 
himself and he did n’t dare to tell Grandpa he 
had spent his allowance. So Polly had to lend 
Teddy a dollar and a half. 

She felt quite desperate then, and she took 
her two fan-tailed pigeons — pretty little Flut- 
terby and Fluff — down to Tom Greeley, who 
had offered her seventy-five cents for them. 
[ 59 ] 


POLLY AND THE OTHER GIRL 


And then, two days afterwards, Tom 
brought the pigeons back and wanted his 
money returned. He said Fluff and Flutterby 
did n’t get along with his pigeons; but Teddy 
said he wanted his money back because the 
circus was coming. “I would n’t have given 
him back his money,” said he. “He knew he 
could impose upon a girl.” 

“Fluff was all pecked; I could n’t have 
that,” said Polly. “And Tom brought his 
monkey, Beppo, to lend me for two days — the 
same time as he had the pigeons.” 

“He calls that business!” sneered Teddy. 

Polly could scarcely keep back the tears. It 
was so discouraging to be obliged to return the 
seventy-five cents! Beppo’s society did count 
— he played such funny tricks; but of course 
that “was n’t business.” 

Teddy enjoyed Beppo’s society if it “was n’t 
business.” The Dennett twins came over to 
see him that afternoon and all the Pulsifer 
children, even Amanda, who felt so grown-up. 

[ 60 ] 


POLLY AND THE OTHER GIRL 


Beppo switched his tail in imitation of the 
way in which Amanda switched her skirts, 
and leaped upon Drusy’s shoulder to compare 



“ The monkey was perched on the organ 


his ear-rings with hers; when Grandma came 
out, although he was cracking and munching 
peanuts that Iky Dennett had given him, he 

[ 61 ] 


POLLY AND THE OTHER GIRL 


stopped and made a profound bow, with his 
cap in one hand and the other hand on his 
heart. But he spoiled his politeness the next 
moment by seizing Grandma’s cap by one 
string, pulling it off her head and throwing it 
into the well! Hollis succeeded in fishing it 
out, after awhile, but Grandma said she 
thought a two-days’ visit was too long a one 
for a monkey to make. 

When they scolded Beppo he climbed up on 
the woodbine to the roof and sat there eating 
peanuts, and scolding, until, queerly enough, 
an organ-grinder happened along. Down 
came Beppo and mounted the organ in a 
twinkling, bowing and scraping and passing 
his cap around for pennies; and they were 
obliged to shut him up in his cage when the 
organ-grinder left to prevent him from 
following. 

When Polly and Sarah carried his supper to 
the cage the door was open and the monkey 
was gone ! “The organ-grinder !” cried Sarah. 

[ 62 ] 



« ‘Just wait till I catch him cried Sarah ” 





POLLY AND THE OTHER GIRL 


She seized her hat and rushed out and Polly 
followed. 

Almost to Barberry Four Corners, two miles 
and a half, they ran before they caught sight 
of the man. There was the monkey perched 
upon the organ! 

But the man instead of stopping when they 
shouted, hurried along. He turned aside into 
a field ; it was a short cut to the village but the 
ground was swampy. 

After him ran Sarah, and Polly followed. 

“Just wait till I catch him! ,, cried Sarah, 
running faster. “I think he ’s one of the organ- 
grinders in our street !” 

Polly sank into the mire and twisted her 
ankle. She had to sit there and wait, in great 
pain, with darkness coming on. 

At last there was Sarah, and she could hear 
the monkey scolding and Sarah petting him. 
Sarah’s voice sounded a little queer and shaky, 
but Polly did n’t think much about that until 
afterwards. 

5— Polly and the Other Girl [®®1 


POLLY AND THE OTHER GIRL 


“I can borrow a wheelbarrow at the next 
house and wheel you home/’ said Sarah, 
promptly. “You ’re so little and I ’m strong 
in my arms.” 

Before they reached home, Sarah wheeling 
Polly in the barrow, they met Hollis and 
Teddy searching for them, with Grandma and 
Drusy not far behind. 

It was moonlight then, and they could see 
that Sarah was very pale, and when Hollis took 
the wheelbarrow she slipped down in a little 
heap on the ground. 

“See here!” Hollis raised her sleeve and 
showed a trickle of blood. “That monkey bit 
her ! — she ’s had a tussle to keep going, I 
can tell you ! There ’s no more heft to her 
than there is to a grasshopper, but she ’s clear 
grit.” 

“Poor little cretur,” said Drusy, as Hollis 
took Sarah up in his arms. “I ’m real glad Dr. 
Dobbins gave her that ‘rising-sun’ clock; he 
said he did n’t want her to tell you, Polly, 
[ 66 ] 


POLLY AND THE OTHER GIRL 


because he had n’t anything to give you then, 
but he is going to give you one.” 

“Dr. Dobbins gave Sarah the clock!” cried 
Polly ; and she burst into tears. But they were 
tears of joy. 


[ 67 ] 




SARAH MEETS AN OLD FRIEND 




POLLY AND THE OTHER GIRL 


CHAPTER VII 

SARAH MEETS AN OLD FRIEND 

G RANDMA wrote again to the Super- 
intendent of the Children’s Country- 
Week and asked that Sarah Plunkett 
might make a still longer visit to Bar- 
berry Bend. 

Grandma had heard the story of the clock; 
as sooner or later Grandma heard most of 
Polly’s experiences she would be very likely 
to hear about the ticket some time; and she 
and Grandpa had put their heads together 
and decided that Sarah Plunkett was good for 
Polly; also that Barberry Bend and Polly — 
especially Polly — were good for Sarah 
Plunkett. 

Sarah’s arm had been very sore from the 
monkey’s bite, and the result was that Beppo 
[ 71 ] 


POLLY AND THE OTHER GIRL 


was decided to be a dangerous playfellow and 
restored to the organ-grinding life, which evi- 
dently suited his tastes. 

Polly felt guilty because she had suspected 
Sarah of stealing the clock. She insisted upon 
buying Sarah’s ticket to the circus out of her 
own money ; someway it made her feel a little 
better. 

She was quite rich, too, now that she was 
not obliged to pay for the clock. Teddy 
threatened to go into bankruptcy, but he was 
often financially embarrassed, and almost 
always paid in full after awhile ; he had prom- 
ised, too, to give her his smallest peacock if he 
should be forced to pay only ten cents on a 
dollar, 

So the donkey did n’t seem very far in the 
future after all, and, as Polly said feelingly to 
Grandma, “if only a person’s mind did n’t 
trouble her she could do without donkeys.” 

Grandpa had hoped to be able to take them 
to the circus — Grandpa was a man who had n’t 
[ 72 ] 


POLLY AND THE OTHER GIRL 


forgotten how it seemed to be a boy — but his 
leg was not strong enough. So Hollis went, 
in the open wagon, with Drusy on the front 
seat beside him, and Polly and Sarah on the 
back seat, while Teddy and Iky Dennett 
dangled their legs out behind. 

The circus grounds were at Barberry Four 
Corners; a circus came there almost every 
summer but it was not often such a circus 
as this! There were big elephants and baby 
elephants, a tall giraffe and a fat rhinoceros, 
a roaring lion in a cage, and a wild man of 
Borneo in a chariot, looking as tame as 
anybody. 

They drove along with the procession, 
which was headed by a band playing delight- 
ful music; the roads were thronged with car- 
riages and people on foot and it was very excit- 
ing, though Teddy was somewhat disgusted to 
find that the boy who was riding the giraffe 
was Tom Greeley! 

“They let him do it because he had those 

[ 73 ] 


POLLY AND THE OTHER GIRL 


clothes ; they ’re the regimentals that he had to 
speak his piece in at the Fourth of July pic- 
nic, ” said Iky Dennett. 

“He 'll want to ride something else, or back 
out of his bargain somehow," said Teddy, 
scowling at the proud rider of the giraffe. 

“O Sarah! the ponies — the prettiest of all!" 
cried Polly. 

There were dozens of them ; satiny, dappled 
little Shetland fellows with almost more mane 
than pony ; chunky Canadian ponies that 
looked, as Teddy said, as if they had been 
whittled out; rough little mustangs, fiery, yet 
with human, affectionate eyes. 

“Oh ! I wish I could have a pony instead of 
a donkey," said Polly. 

“You won't save up enough to buy one of 
those as long as you have a sweet tooth," said 
Teddy, which was a little cruel since he was 
much more of a hindrance to Polly’s saving 
than her “sweet tooth." 

As they came out of the tent, after the per- 
[ 74 ] 


POLLY AND THE OTHER GIRL 


formance was over, Polly saw a thin, ragged 
boy watching them with eager eyes. Suddenly 
he pulled Sarah’s skirt. 



“Suddenly he pulled Sarah's skirt” 


“Say ! Sarah Plunkett, you come with me,” 
he said; “him and her, too, if they want to,” 

[ 75 ] 


POLLY AND THE OTLIER GIRL 


indicating Teddy and Polly by a jerk of his. 
thumb. 

“Why — why Joey Blinn!” said Sarah in 
great surprise. “Your mother thinks you ran 
away to sea!” 

Joey Blinn did n’t wish to talk about his per- 
sonal affairs. 

“Do you like them little mustangs?” The 
boy’s voice trembled. His lips quivered. 

“O, yes, yes!” cried Polly eagerly. 

“Then you just come with me.” 


[ 76 ] 


THE CIRCUS PONY 













































































































POLLY AND THE OTHER GIRL 


CHAPTER VIII 

THE CIRCUS PONY 

H OLLIS was feeding the horses and he 
promised to wait. Drusy thought 
she would better go with them; she 
said she “did n’t much like the looks 
of that boy.” 

The boy led them across a field and into a 
clump of bushes. Under the shelter of an old 
wagon-top lay one of the shaggy little Indian 
ponies, breathing heavily. “He — he ’s the one 
I liked best. I ’ve took care of ’em. He ’s 
Bob. He ’s awful cunning and loving; they 
say he can’t get well, and they ’re going to 
shoot him.” 

Polly stooped and patted the pony’s shaggy 
head, and the little fellow looked up at her 
with affectionate eyes of his kind. 

[ 79 ] 


POLLY AND THE OTHER GIRL 


“They ’d give him to anybody that would 
take him,” said the boy eagerly. “If they ’d 
let me take him along I believe I could cure 
him. But they won’t; they say it ’s too much 
trouble; and he is n’t worth as much as a 
Shetland. They only think of what things 
are worth, but I — I like him. You look as if 
you was well-off folks that lived somewhere; 
oh, I wish you ’d take him !” 

“We will,” said Polly promptly. “Drusy, I 
shall have him instead of a donkey !” 

“We shall have to see whether Hollis thinks 
he ’ll live,” said Drusy. Hollis, when he came 
and looked at the pony, shared the opinion of 
his owners — that he would not live ; and beside 
he did n’t know how they should get him 
home. But Polly was so sure that Grandpa 
would let her have him that he spoke to the 
circus proprietors and found it true they would 
give him to anyone who would take him. 

The result was that Hollis went that night 
with the big farm wagon and brought the 
pony home. 


[ 80 ] 


POLLY AND THE OTHER GIRL 


Joey Blinn came, too; the circus company 
was going on to the next town, and he would 
be obliged to walk half the night to overtake 
it, but he wanted to be sure that “Bob” was 
safe. 

The poor little pony could not stand, his 
wistful eyes were dim, but he rubbed his nose 
affectionately on Joey Blinn’s tear-stained 
cheek. “I ’ll be coming to see him,” said Joey 
as he went away. 

“He is the bake-house woman’s son,” said 
Sarah. “I suppose I ought to write to his 
mother. But he ’ll always have to dodge his 
step-father’s crutch if he goes back.” 

Grandpa sent for Dr. Dobbins, whose herbs 
were as good for horses as for people and who 
had especial skill in healing animals. 

He shook his head over the mustang pony, 
but worked away with warm drinks and rub- 
bings for half the night. 

Little Josephus, and Polly, and Sarah, and 
Hollis, and Drusy, and Grandma, and Grandpa 

6— Polly and the Other Girl [81 ] 


POLLY AND THE OTHER GIRL 


helped, while Teddy kept the boys of the 
neighborhood from being too attentive to the 
pony. 

At the end of a week there came a letter to 
Sarah : 

“deer sarah Plunkitt, madam, rite how are 
bob if he are Dead dont rite I cant Bare it 
Respecklefy yours, Joseph Blinn.” 

Sarah answered the letter. It was a good 
deal of an undertaking. 

“Dear Joey if the Pony had dyed i wood not 
have wrote noing Your feelings but if You 
had seen Him kick up His Heels in the barn 
Yard yestiddy and shaik His main at the cross 
Goblar which advance on Him feroshus You 
wood no He was not Ded. there is a butifull 
dokter here name dokter dobins and He kured 
the pony and so did we awl ; He maiks Kloks 
yestiddy He et otes out of Mi hand Polly loves 
Him and thanks You harty for Him She sais 
to kom and see Him and She will alwis kali 
Him bob joey You awt to lett Your mother 
no how You get allong and do nott tell whop- 
[ 82 ] 




POLLY AND THE OTHER GIRL 


pers, for there is alwis a tale to them as Polly 
sais and to be good is better than lerning or 



riches as it sais in the riteing book and so no 
more from Yore old frend 

“Sarah Plunkett. 


“p S joey thare is Good foks and good Times 

[ 85 ] 


POLLY AND THE OTHER GIRL 


in the woald and i no a Grate Sekrit i will tel 
You wen You kom Polly is going to hav a 
pony kart but that is nott the Sekrit. ,, 

“Don’t you feel bad because I don’t tell you 
the secret,” said Sarah consolingly to 
Grandma, when Grandma had read the letter. 
“Maybe I can tell you some time.” 


m 


BOB 


























































POLLY AND THE OTHER GIRL 


CHAPTER IX 

BOB 

P OLLY’S pony-cart was a beauty; it was 
as yellow as a sunflower and had a blue 
corduroy cushion. It went with a little 
bumpity-bump (as Polly said) and a 
rattle, as is the manner of pony-carts, but Polly 
thought that only made it the more delightful. 

Bob, who had never been broken to harness, 
had his own opinion of the cart; he turned 
his head and looked at it when Hollis, having 
put on his new harness all spick-and-span and 
shining with silver, backed him in between the 
shafts. Then he kicked up his heels and 
capered, backing the cart into the farm wagon 
to the great risk of the wheels. 

“Oh, Bob, how can you? I thought you ’d 
like it!” said Polly rubbing his nose. “You 
like to carry us on your back !” 

[ 89 ] 


POLLY AND THE OTHER GIRL 


Bob looked down and pawed the ground in 
an embarrassed way. Then he tossed his head 
with one of his gruff expressive little whinnies, 
that was as much as to say : 

“If you had been born a little whirlwind, 
as I was, to sweep over wide prairies and never 
know a bit or curb, would you like to drag a 
little rattling, bumping, painted wagon at your 
heels ?” 

But he allowed Polly to lead him around 
with the cart at his heels, and was very patient, 
though he would start and tremble a little now 
and then. 

When Hollis got into the cart and attempted 
to drive him, the pony’s heels flew so they 
were afraid the cart would be kicked to pieces, 
and Grandpa would not allow Polly to try it. 

Tom Greeley, who was one of a group of 
highly entertained boys watching the proceed- 
ings, offered to break him to harness for the 
use of pony and cart for a fortnight, the two 
pigeons which he had returned to Polly, and 
[ 90 ] 


POLLY AND THE OTHER GIRL 


thirty-seven cents in cash. But his offer was 
not accepted. 



** A boy suddenly jumped over the fence ” 


Teddy said indignantly that he “guessed 
they could break in their own pony.” 

But Teddy’s plan was not at all a success; 
it was to mount the pony’s back and ride him, 
[ 91 ] 


POLLY AND THE OTHER GIRL 


postilion fashion, while he was still harnessed 
to the cart. Bob resented this so highly that 
he tossed Teddy over his head into a clover 
bed, and it was humiliating to one’s pride,' 
especially with Tom Greeley looking on. 

Bob started on a run up the road, and it is 
quite uncertain where he would have brought 
up or how the cart would have fared, if a boy 
had not suddenly jumped over the fence into 
the road crying “Bob!” with a surprised and 
reproachful accent. 

He was a ragged and dusty boy, and he had 
tramped his toes out of his rough old shoes. 
Bob stopped; he shivered all over, but he 
stopped ; and when the boy came up he rubbed 
the boy’s cheek with his nose and whinnied 
gently. 

“Stay and break him in, can’t you?” cried 
Teddy who had left his courage in the clover 
bed. For the boy had seated himself in the 
cart and was driving Bob slowly along the 
road. Bob did n’t like it; he did n’t really 

[ 92 ] 


POLLY AND THE OTHER GIRL 


pretend that he did, and he stopped and shiv- 
ered now and then; but he did n’t kick or 
caper, and he did obey his driver’s voice. 

“I can’t stay,” said the boy alighting from 
the wagon and feeding Bob with three small 
lumps of sugar which he took from his pocket 
in a carefully folded paper. “The comp’ny ’s 
over to Pawtuxet; I ’ve got to foot it back 
again before morning !” 

“Say!” cried Tom Greeley, in an excited 
half-whisper, “that ’s the fellow that escaped 
from the Reform School and broke into See- 
ley’s store last spring ! there ’s the scar on his 
chin and his red hair and all!” 

“You shut up!” cried Sarah Plunkett 
fiercely. “He ’s Joey Blinn and I know his 
mother. He ’s a friend of mine and I have n’t 
seen him for over a year.” 

“Then how do you know where he has been 
or what he has been doing?” cried Tom Gree- 
ley with a triumphant sneer. 

The strange boy had caught something of 
[ 93 ] 


POLLY AND THE OTHER GIRL 


this conversation. He looked in a startled 
way from one to the other, and then his face 
grew very pale. 


[ 94 ] 


JOEY AND BOB DISAPPEAR 



POLLY AND THE OTHER GIRL 


CHAPTER X 

JOEY AND BOB DISAPPEAR 

J OEY BLINN might drive Bob in har- 
ness, but Bob wished it to be understood 
that no one else was going to. When 
Teddy tried it he behaved just about as 
badly as it was possible for a pony to behave, 
and even Hollis found it scarcely possible to 
hold him. 

Hollis persuaded Joey to spend the night at 
the farm by promising to give him a lift on his 
way, in the wagon, early in the morning. 

Grandma found some of Teddy's outgrown 
clothes that fitted him ; it is true that his arms 
were a little longer than the jacket sleeves and 
his legs than the trousers, but the clothes were 
much more comfortable than his own that 
were soiled and ragged. Hollis had a pair of 

7— Polly and the Other Girl [ 9 ”1 


POLLY AND THE OTHER GIRL 


“sneakers” with rubber soles that were too 
small for him, and these replaced Joey’s worn- 
out old shoes. 

But it must be owned that Joey seemed a 
little ungrateful. Before light he slipped out 
of the barn chamber, where he slept with Hol- 
lis, and went away. 

“I suppose he was afraid he should n’t get 
back in time,” said Hollis. “I don’t think they 
treat him very well in that circus, but a boy 
that will run away with a circus I don’t think 
much of myself.” 

“Such a little fellow he was and his step- 
father was cruel to him,” pleaded Sarah in 
excuse. “He ’ll come back to see Bob,” said 
Teddy sagely. “When a fellow likes a dumb 
thing like that — a fellow that never had much 
to like — its orfle hard to keep away from him.” 

Before they had finished breakfasting at the 
farm up drove the sheriff as fast as he could 
drive. Polly saw Tom Greeley drop out from 
the back of the sheriff’s wagon and hide behind 
[ 98 ] 


POLLY AND THE OTHER GIRL 


the syringa-bush ; then she knew just what the 
sheriff had come for. 

“You are harboring a little rascal that ran 
away from the Reform School — one of the 
crowd that broke into Seeley’s store,” said the 
sheriff ; “red-haired and sharp as a weasel ; scar 
on his chin; calls himself Jack Roberts, but 
likely to have a dozen names.” 

“That is n’t Joey Rlinn!” cried Sarah 
Plunkett ; “he never was in the Reform School 
and never broke in a store !” 

“How do you know?” asked the sheriff, 
turning to Sarah. 

“Why, because he ’s Joey Blinn; he ’s a 
friend of mine,” answered Sarah, stoutly. 

The sheriff laughed. But he asked Sarah 
many questions about the boy’s home and 
parents, and they all heard more about Muffin 
Court where Sarah lived than she had ever 
told before. There were hardships there and 
few good times; Joey Blinn had to run away 
from his step-father’s crutch; but he was a 
[ 99 ] 


L. OF C, 


POLLY AND THE OTHER GIRL 


good boy ; it was useless to tell Sarah Plunkett 
that Joey was not a good boy. 

“He ’s the fellow I ’m after, no doubt/’ said 
the hard-hearted sheriff. 

Hollis had told him of Joey’s departure in 
the early morning, and in the midst of Sarah’s 
indignant assertions that Joey Blinn “was n’t 
nobody but just himself,” off drove the sheriff 
towards Pawtuxet. 

He returned in the middle of the afternoon 
angry and disappointed. He had not found 
Joey. The boy had not returned to the circus 
company. 

“He must have got wind of it somehow that 
I was on his track,” said the sheriff 

Polly remembered how pale the boy had 
turned when Tom Greeley had said “Reform 
School.” But she did n’t speak of it to 
Grandma, for she had heard her say to Grandpa 
that she was almost afraid they had had too 
much to do with people from Muffin Court. 

Tom Greeley did not offer again to help 
[ 100 ] 


POLLY AND THE OTHER GIRL 


break the pony to harness. He watched the 
efforts that were made from the crotch in a 
tall apple-tree in the field opposite the house. 



“Tom Greeley watched from a tall apple-tree” 


He said he did n’t like a girl like that Sarah 
Plunkett; she did n’t suit him, someway. 

It took two whole weeks to get that pony 
broken so that he would draw the cart like a 

[ 101 ] 


POLLY AND THE OTHER GIRL 


well-ordered horse, and the very day after 
Polly and Sarah had their first comfortable 
drive he disappeared! 

It was just at dusk that Hollis went to lock 
the stable door, and found the door open and 
the pony gone from his stall. 

“Stolen, of course,” said Hollis, calling 
everyone from the house to see what had hap- 
pened. “And look !” he pointed to a foot-print 
in the soft ground at the stable door; “if that 
is n’t the marks of those sneakers I ’ll miss my 
guess. The bottoms of them were ribbed, 
that ’s how I know.” 


( 102 ] 


SARAH IS LOST 





POLLY AND THE OTHER GIRL 


CHAPTER XI 

SARAH IS LOST 

S ARAH said, with angry tears in her 
eyes, that it was n’t Joey Blinn who 
stole the pony. Joey had been her 
friend ever since he wore aprons, and 
if ever he had a hot bun with a lot of raisins 
in it, he gave half to the little hump-backed 
Jimmy Driver. And all the half-starved cats 
and the tramp dogs in Muffin Court knew that 
Joey was their friend; and he always carried 
her bundle, and picked up her cane for mulatto 
Abby, the old washerwoman ; and he had stood 
barefooted in the rain many an evening to sell 
papers for Toby Burt, who had a narrow chest 
and breathed like a steam-engine when there 
was a cold rain. Would a boy like that 
steal? 


[ 105 J 


POLLY AND THE OTHER GIRL 


But Hollis kept shaking his head, and say- 
ing: “He was terrible fond of the pony, that 
boy was, and he would n’t have run away with 
a circus if he had n’t been terrible fond of ani- 
mals; and look at the print of that sneaker!” 

Grandpa sent for the sheriff. They tried to 
trace the pony’s tracks and the tracks of those 
sneakers, but the ground was dry, and it was 
all in vain. 

The sheriff said he would start afresh the 
next day, and he would recover the pony and 
have the boy in jail before night ! 

Tom Greeley was n’t afraid to come nearer 
than the crotch of the apple-tree now, and he 
said he knew the minute he clapped eyes on 
that boy that he was Jack Roberts, who ran 
away from the Reform School and broke into 
Seeley’s store. 

The next morning in Sarah Plunkett’s little 
clover-sweet room, next to Polly’s, there was 
no Sarah Plunkett! 

She was n’t under the early sweeting tree 
[ 106 ] 


POLLY AND THE OTHER GIRL 


in the orchard, nor counting over the brood of 
young turkeys that Grandpa had given her for 
her very own, nor making “cheeses” with her 
red calico skirts to tantalize the cross gobbler. 

With Sarah had gone her hat and sacque, 
and Drusy reported that when she went down 
stairs at five o’clock the porch door was 
unfastened. 

Little Josephus threw some light on the 
mystery; he said he had seen the red-headed 
boy that cooled down the pony talking to 
Sarah Plunkett over the orchard wall the day 
before; and no cross-questioning could shake 
Josephus’s testimony. 

Grandpa and Grandma looked at each other. 
Grandma said, in a voice that trembled, she 
was afraid they were simple-minded people and 
easily deceived: she had been fond of that 
Sarah — she could n’t help it. And to think 
that they had exposed Polly to such influ- 
ences ! They would never have another coun- 
try-week girl. 


[ 107 ] 


POLLY AND THE OTHER GIRL 


Polly went into Sarah’s room. She looked, 
with a swelling heart, at everything that 
reminded her of Sarah. There was the bunch 
of jack-in-the-pulpits which they had gathered 
down by Bound Brook yesterday. There was 
the picture which Sarah had drawn of Bob and 
the new calf ; Sarah could n’t draw very well ; 
it was impossible to tell which was the pony 
and which was the calf, but Polly thought that 
did not prevent it from being a very beautiful 
drawing. There was the motto that Polly had 
worked for her, “The Lord is My Shepherd 
it seemed as if Sarah had not understood that 
it meant she must be good. Suddenly the little 
“rising-sun” clock struck, and it was like a 
burst of music in Polly’s ears. 

“There was the time I thought Sarah was 
bad before, and she was n’t !” she said to her- 
self. “Now I won’t believe it! — if she never 
comes back, I won’t believe Sarah is bad !” 

It was noon now, but a little hurrying figure 
[ 108 ] 


POLLY AND THE OTHER GIRL 


that had stolen out of the porch door was still 
hurrying on. 



Sarah was lost ” 


There were deep woods between Barberry 
Bend and Patmeel. Somewhere in a little 
clearing in the woods was an old barn; Joey 
[ 109 ] 


POLLY AND THE OTHER GIRL 


had given Sarah some landmarks by which she 
was to find it, but the landmarks had failed her. 
She could not find the little clearing, could not 
find her way back to the road ; she was lost in 
the woods ! 


[ 110 ] 


THE “GRATE SEKRIT ” 




POLLY AND THE OTHER GIRL 


CHAPTER XII 


THE “ GRATE SEKRIT 


T HE Elephant now goes round, goes 
round, 

The band begins to play.” 


It was a round and jolly voice that sang — as 
round and jolly as little Dr. Dobbins himself; 
it reached the very depths of the thick woods, 
and a broad smile overspread Sarah’s sharp 
little freckled face and drove the tears back as 
she heard it. 

She called the doctor’s name until the woods 
rang, and at length her ears were rejoiced by 
an answering “Hullo !” 

Presently there was the little doctor’s rosy 
face beaming upon her. Oh ! how comforting 
it was for a tired and frightened little girl to 
drop her cares upon him. A great many times 

8— Polly and the Other Girl [ 1 1 3 1 


POLLY AND THE OTHER GIRL 


that morning had Sarah felt obliged to say to 
herself, “Shame on you, ‘ ’fraid cat !’ ” 

It was a tumble-down old barn in which 
they found Joey Blinn, and there was not even 
hay to lie on, and Joey’s face was flushed with 
fever and his limbs weak. 

“Joey is afraid of the sheriff,” explained 
Sarah, aside to the doctor. “You ought to go 
right ahead when you ’re afraid, but it seems 
as if Joey could n’t. I think it ’s because he ’s 
had such an orfle hard time. They think he ’s 
Jack Roberts, but he ain’t” — 

“I know it. I heard all about him when I 
went down to Muffin Court,” said the doctor. 
“His mother cried about him, but she said if 
he came back his step-father would abuse him. 
When I told her you were my niece — ” 

“Oh! sh — sh!” whispered Sarah, as if the 
woods had ears. “I do want to s’prise Polly !” 

“Why, the day after I saw you first — the day 
I mended the big clock in the hall — says I to 
Drusy, ‘That little gal looks just like my sister 
[ 114 ] 


POLLY AND THE OTHER GIRL 


Sally that ran away from our home in England 
to marry Gregory Plunkett!’ But I was n’t 
sure, you know, till I went down to Muffin 
Court and inquired about your mother.” 

“Does Drusy know that I ’m your niece?” 
asked Sarah anxiously, for she wished to tell 
her “grate sekrit” herself. 

“Drusy ’s a gal that wears a thinking-cap,” 
said the little doctor. “That was all I ever 
said to her about it.” 

He took Joey Blinn in his arms and carried 
him to his wagon, which stood in the road. 
He assured Joey that no sheriff should arrest 
him, and Joey fell asleep on the way to Ferry 
Village, with the doctor’s arm around him. 

It was n’t the first time that the little pea- 
green house had been a hospital for the poor 
and friendless ! 

They took a short cut to Ferry Village, so 
Sarah could not stop and explain why she had 
run away so early in the morning. But just 
as soon as Joey was comfortable in bed she 
[ 115 ] 


POLLY AND THE OTHER GIRL 


went across the ferry to the farm with her 
“grate sekrit.” 

“Polly and I were going to drive the pony to 
Barberry Four Corners this afternoon, and 
she would miss me/’ she said to the doctor. 

Into the great hall where Grandpa and 
Grandma and Polly were sitting Sarah 
rushed. 

“Oh! — oh! — I ’ve got own folks! I belong 
to somebody!” she cried. “I ’m an uncle — I 
mean a niece — and it ’s Dr. Dobbins — and 
Joey was orfle sick ; he came and told me but 
he would n’t let me tell for fear of the sheriff, 
though he never was anybody but Joey Blinn 
in his life, and how could he be? and my uncle 
has took him home, and he says he has such a 
good head maybe he ’ll be a clock-maker! 
And we ’re all going to live together and — O, 
Drusy!” — for Drusy had run in at the sound 
of Sarah’s voice — “my uncle said to tell you 
that now he must be taken care of right away 
— that’s what he said, and I don’t know what 
he meant.” 


[ 116 ] 



“ * Oh !— oh !— I *ve got own folks ’ cried Sarah ” 
















' 


















POLLY AND THE OTHER GIRL 


Drusy drew Sarah behind the door and gave 
her a great hug. “You little goose! don’t you 
know I’m going to be your Aunt?” 



“More own folks!” gasped Sarah, in bewil- 
dered joy. “And oh, Polly! it ’s such a little 

[ 119 ] 


POLLY AND THE OTHER GIRL 


way over the bridge, with the pony — you 
can come every day !” 

Polly’s face, that had been bright with 
Sarah’s joy, clouded. 

“He ’s gone! Bob ’s gone — stolen!” she 
said. “We thought” — But no ! Polly could not 
tell Sarah what they had all thought. 

Just at that very moment Teddy’s “whoop 
and hooray” rang out. Into the yard dashed 
Teddy on Bob’s back ! 

“That fellow, Tom Greeley, wanted me to 
give him a dollar and a half to bring the pony 
back — would n’t tell me where he was!” said 
Teddy. “I found out that he was in the pound 
at Ferry Village, where they put stray ani- 
mals. I had to pay half a dollar to get him 
out! You must pay me, Polly, I ’m so orfle 
short.” Teddy’s brow wrinkled with anxiety 
about his half-dollar. “Tom Greeley saw the 
pony come out of the stable — that fellow is 
always sitting up in the crotch of that apple- 
tree! Bob opened the door with his teeth! 

[ 120 ] 


POLLY AND THE OTHER GIRL 


Those circus ponies can always do tricks. 
Then Tom Greeley thought he could make 
something out of it. He is n’t going to get the 
reward. They ’ve caught Jack Roberts, and 
he is n’t Joey Blinn at all !” 

“Joey Blinn is going to be my brother,” 
explained Sarah. “Seems as if the world was 
chock full of own folks and good times — no 
more whoppers for me, Polly!” 

“I ’ll come over every day, Sarah,” said 
Polly, drawing a long breath of perfect happi- 
ness. “It will be so nice always to have 
another girl!” 


(The End.) 


[ 121 ] 



























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